In January, over the objections of indigenous groups that live there, the government of Ecuador sold oil exploration rights to 500,000 acres of the Amazon to a consortium of Chinese companies. Whenever we hear about stories like this, there is a tendency to think: How can this happen? How can obscenely rich investors run roughshod over the land, livelihoods, and rights of impoverished local communities, and with utterly no consequences?

When we think about countries on the Indian subcontinent with destabilizing demographics, Pakistan comes to mind immediately. First, it’s a country with a very young population. Almost two thirds of its nearly 200 million people are under 25, and the median age is about 22. Second, this youth cohort is highly susceptible to radicalization. Nearly every terrorist attack in Pakistan since 9/11 has been perpetrated by someone under 30. In recent years, the Wilson Center has focused on Pakistan’s youth demographic challenges in detail. India, however, needs to be included in this conversation as well.

Last month, Oxfam made an extraordinary request. It asked the World Bank to freeze its investments in agricultural land.

At a time when urbanization and growing service industries are bringing great neglect to agricultural sectors across much of the developing world, why would Oxfam want the World Bank to suspend its generous levels of agricultural funding?

The region faces rising sea levels and regularly experiences coastal flooding – of particular concern in a region with heavily populated and arable-land-rich coastal areas. Additionally, it is highly vulnerable to glacial melt. The Western Himalayas, which provide water supplies to much of South Asia, have experienced some of the most rapid melt in the world.